The Great Plastic Clearance of Spitalfields City Farm

Lauren Garland writes: It's when you set out for a run on an evening like this that conversation about the weather changes from, 'Isn't it glorious? Finally a bit of summer!' to 'Oh my god, how am I suppose to do anything in this heat?' But 22 of us, including lots of new faces, defied the heat this evening & set off from The Arch Gallery for Spitalfields City Farm.The initial plan was for us to do some digging & harvest some crab apples, but when the women who run the farm saw how many of us there were they quickly changed their mind and set us a much bigger challenge! When one of the paddocks was built the builders used sand to level the land off, then laid down plastic with woodchips on top. The problem with that is that the black plastic prevents anything growing & most of the farm's occupants need some grass to munch on so our task was to pull it all up. Sounds easy enough, right?As we started to pull it up we realised it's not quite as easy as we first thought as the soil & woodchips on top weighed a ton! Luckily we're an enthusiastic bunch and soon devised a system of tearing the fabric into sections, shovelling off the soil from the top & raking it back over the uncovered ground. That makes it sound far more organised that it was, if I'm honest it was actually rather chaotic & by the time we finished we were all covered in mud from head to toe.As there were so many of us we made quick work of the job so before we left we had time to meet the animals who will now get to enjoy their plastic-free paddock; two donkeys, Bayleaf & Derek, and a pony called Tilly.I fell a little in love with Derek the donkey and the 2.5k run back was just long enough for me to decide that my boyfriend and I should definitely move to the country and open a donkey sanctuary. I was greeted by a rather dubious look when I pitched him my idea upon my return, but I'm confident he'll come round to it.Mandie Jones writes:After helping out the donkeys and goats at Spitafields City Farm the group split up for the run home.  Some of us with a penchant for punishment opted to run to nearby Weavers Fields to do some interval training; a great (but painful) way to increase your lung capacity and fitness.  After a nice jog to the park we were challenged by Ivo to do 4 400m sprints round the edge of the park.  We all hurtled round, ending up puffing and somewhat redder in the face than when we started. It was a good way to shake off some of the mud we’d gathered from our Farm work and a nice challenge before our gentle jog back to The Arch with the setting sun.